from the legal,-yes,-smart? dept

Last week, we noted that the band Heart had sent a cease-and-desist letter to the McCain campaign for its use of their song "Barracuda" as part of the intro for VP candidate Sarah Palin (nicknamed Sarah Barracuda -- or, as someone noted, Sarahcuda). As we pointed out, it appeared that the cease-and-desist was pretty worthless on legal grounds. As long as the venue had paid the proper performance license they could play whatever songs they wanted. However, just because it was perfectly legal, didn't mean that it made sense. After all, picking songs from artists who disagree with your positions seems like a recipe designed to give someone else a platform to speak out against you.

However, it looks like the McCain campaign is sticking with the fact that this is a perfectly legal use of the song, and is ignoring the cease-and-desist. Video Savant writes in to let us know that the campaign is still using the song at campaign appearances by the candidates.

from the not-much-leverage dept

Last month it was singer Jackson Browne suing the McCain campaign for using his song in a commercial. As we noted at the time, since it was used in a commercial, it was most likely infringing, but if McCain wanted to use it at an event, he could as long as he paid the proper performance licensing fees. So, now we have another situation where exactly that scenario has happened. At the Republican National Convention earlier this week, the speakers played the Heart song "Barracuda" for VP candidate Sarah Palin (who apparently went by the nickname "Sarah Barracuda"). This is perfectly legal, assuming that the RNC has paid the required performance license, and there's no reason to think they didn't, given how much music was used at the convention.

But, that's apparently not good enough for the band, who complained and had its label, Sony BMG, and its publisher Universal Music Publishing send cease-and-desist letters to the campaign. On what legal basis? They don't seem to have an answer for that. The whole thing is kind of silly. There's almost certainly no legal leg to stand on here, but it's surprising that the RNC wouldn't check first, given how others, like Browne, have reacted and the fact that the press would almost certainly cover the story (as they are). So, while there may be no legal basis for the complaints, it still is surprising that the RNC and/or the McCain/Palin campaign wouldn't bother to first check with the band to see if the members would be upset about the usage.